Thursday Three! Thankful edition

Papa Possum has come out of defuncted-ness at the special birthday request of Jim (Happy Birthday, Jim!) to post a special, Non-Thursday, Non-Three. Except it is. Thursday. And three questions.

Anyway, for those of you unfamiliar with the Possum (not this one; this one), he was is the witty, genial host of a weekly three-question meme that ended up building a witty, genial little community. It was out of wanting a place of my own to blather post my responses to the T3 that I began this little spot.

It is entirely untrue that my answers regularly overran his comment section.

Go read his post. Answer the questions, in his comments or on your blog (leave a comment at Terry's place so we can find you). Maybe, if there are enough of us, we can persuade him to make his non-retirement permanent.

So - my answers:

1. What one person are you most thankful for this year? It's more people than person. It's been a year of settling in and feeling like I finally belong, mostly due to a slew of new friends. They've challenged me, made me laugh, even laughed at my jokes.

2. What one thing are you most thankful for this year? Terry mentioned jobs - in spite of how I whine about it, I am very grateful to work for an institution that does make an effort to support and value its people. The University is making every effort to retain people and positions, as well as keeping benefit costs and coverage as close to previous levels as possible.

3. What one event are you most thankful for this year? In an odd way, I'm thankful for the results of the last presidential election; if nothing else, it kicked us out of our complacency and spurred people to action. We're starting to think about what is important to us, personally and for our country on a national and international basis.

And the bonus question - How's it going? Well. Lots to do at work, fun projects at home, exciting events coming up. Despite the fact I do complain, I've nothing to really complain about.

Double edged

A week or so ago an acquaintance at at church I attended for a while asked Pam (who still goes there) where her "young friend" Diane was. Pam probed a little further, and discovered that the acquaintance was under the impression I am in my mid-thirties - a good fifteen years younger than my actual age.

When Pam relayed the story to me, I preened for a bit (who doesn't want to be told they appear significantly younger than their actual age?), then it hit me...

Was the acquaintance commenting on my looks, OR

Was she commenting on my behavior?

End of the weekend

Sunday evening, trying to finish watching Saving Private Ryan. I've been picking at it over most of the late afternoon, stopping every so often to change over the laundry or do a quick chore. The chicken chili - cooked in the crock overnight and thrown in the 'fridge before leaving for church - has been packaged up and frozen.

While I've moved the very few things I keep in the basement out of the electrician's (and harm's) way, the floor really needs the vacuum rather than the broom. Too tired today; since there is still no word on when the work down there will be done, it can surely wait until tomorrow night.

The rest of the Baldacci book will wait until next weekend, when I can relax without time constraints, reading at leisure rather than at speed. Weeknights this week I intend to putter away at the super-secret Christmas presents; I didn't make quite as much progress as anticipated.

Speaking of progress - while we are studying lesson four of 1 Peter this week, I've only posted lesson one. Lesson two is about half written; I'm seriously considering doing the rest in podcast form, condensing everything into twenty minutes or so. Thoughts on that?

Better restart the movie. Monday morning comes ridiculously early...

Little things

The little things can make a big difference: seeing a dear young lady at the funeral (well, old enough to have five children, two of whom are in high school) who traveled up from Oklahoma; finding out when I purchased Nate's coffee prize this afternoon I also received a free latte; discovering the barrista who served me is the Stone Creek Coffee promotions guy assigned to our campus - and that there is a free tasting of their Honduran blend coffee in the AMU next Wednesday (a blend that will be exclusively sold at MU).

The library notified me that my next Christmas-themed book was available. I returned last weekend's read - The Christmas Box - after being seriously underwhelmed. Overlooking the Mormon writer's distinctly LDS viewpoint was easy; overlooking bad writing was not. I cannot figure out exactly why this book was so popular when it was published, except that the theme rises above the stinky prose.

The next read is David Baldacci's The Christmas Train. Engaging, fun, lighthearted and much better written than the other. The comfortable recliner, natural light reading lamp, warm quilt and (free!) latte, along with the good book made it difficult not to sit and read cover to cover...

But into the kitchen I went. Chicken breast is speed-thawing, to be cooked and thrown with lots of other good things into the crockpot to make chicken chili overnight. A tuna casserole - the ultimate childhood comfort food - is in the oven for dinner. The chili, when done, will be individually packed and frozen; I'm really beginning to appreciate having a stash of thaw-and-serve lunches in the freezer.

Early to bed, I hope. The dreaded basement cleaning has been put off until tomorrow. In fact, there's quite a bit that needs doing tomorrow, but taking today to do what I wanted - rather than what was needed - went much further toward restoring my mental health.

Early

Five a.m. A faint smell of ginger and molasses lingers in the air in the kitchen, a remnant of cookie baking last night. Overlaying and soon to overtake it is the scent of coffee brewing, and the sweet cinnamon wafting from the sweet rolls in the oven. For the moment, life is good.

The study Bible and journal are sitting on the desk, waiting. I've nowhere to go until a funeral service in the late morning, and plan to spend as much of the morning as I can reading, writing, praying, letting God work the kinks out of my soul. The last few months have been a bit like being in a prize fight, trapped in the ring with an opponent two weight classes up from you. Satan's gloves are laced on tight, and he's going for a knock out.

The intention for this weekend is to hibernate, pull back from the world and recharge. Too much going on, too many people wanting things I'm not prepared to give, too much fuss and certainly too much pain.

Dante was wrong

He missed a circle of hell - the one for inconsiderate landlords.

My landlord has been given notice that he has thirty days to bring upgraded electric into the house (who knows when the clock started ticking on that - he was already talking about getting an extension of time when he finally called to tell me about it). As a result, my washer and dryer need to be moved, the dryer over to the wall, the washer all the way to the other side of the utility tubs.

Why is this a big deal? As I've chronicled in the past, my landlord and I have vastly different perceptions of what constitutes "adequate notice" and "acceptable repair". The problems with this particular process, from my viewpoint (and the actual repairs haven't even begun yet) are best put in list form:

1. It's not the best idea to call me late (for me, admittedly, quarter to eight is late) at night to tell me about this, obviously all anxious to move the appliances right then. It's not going to happen.

2. I do need to use the washer; there is currently no electric in the spot to which it will be moved. Until you have hired a contractor and have a set start date, the washer will not be moved.

4. When I told you in no uncertain terms you are not to move, touch or otherwise mess with my appliances without my express authorization and without my physical presence, it would have been much better for you if you simply confessed that you had already moved the dryer. Sins of omission are still sins.

5. Once I calm down, you will be hearing from me on that issue.

6. Bear in mind these appliances are over thirty years old; they need to be handled with a little bit of care. I expect they will still work after they are moved; if not, I fully expect you to remedy that situation to my standards.

7. It has been nine days since you called to tell me that the city had given you thirty days to correct the problem, but I've yet to hear another word from you. Do not expect a pleasant response if you call me late one night to tell me the work is going to begin the following day.

While I would expect the electricians to be professionals (that's not necessarily a valid assumption, given past experiences with hired help) who will keep the power interruption to a minimum, the fact remains that no electricity means no heat in the house. In November. In Wisconsin.

So...part of this weekend will be spent doing a general cleaning of my laundry area, to sweep and clean up around the appliances. It's been on the list of things to do for a while, anyway; while the laundry facilities are fairly neat, I've an area where I store painting supplies, extra paint, flower pots and assorted porch decorations. Not high on the priority list, but as long as I'm down there, I may as well do that, too.

Although if I find that the washer has already been moved, all bets are off...

Lip smacking good

Now for a bit of Monday silliness and a PSA.

It's an established fact that I have a thing for Burt's Bees lip balm. I keep tubes in my purse, the desk drawer at work, the tv remote caddy in the living room, the bedside table, the sewing desk and the bathroom cabinet.

It's also an established fact that every one of the darn things will run out at exactly the same time.

The cheap frugal yankee in me has been digging the remains out of the tubes for the last two weeks, waiting for a sale. Saving a quarter each on six tubes is enough to cover the coffee I have with a friend every week.

By the time I went grocery shopping at Aldi Saturday, I was almost ready to break down and buy the stuff at regular price. Then, on a trip down the non-food aisle, I spotted a package of Lacura lip balm. It's a German product, part of a small line of skin care products they carry. At $1.99 for three tubes, it would tide me over (maybe) until the good stuff went on sale.

I'm impressed. Almost impressed enough to ditch the Burt's Bees entirely (particularly for a product less than 1/3 the cost per tube). The key, of course, is immediately going back to Aldi to stock up; these items are seasonal, most likely to be removed from the shelves before Christmas.

One winner, one whiner

And the winner of the "delurking" giveaway is...

Nate, from Wasted Electrons! An official prize notification e-mail is on its way.

And the whiner: I've spent a couple of hours this afternoon reading through the IRS instructions for the new 990 return. The instructions read a bit like I clean house: start here with x, then realize that y needs to be done first, unless z happens to apply... It's a bit like visiting Wonderland, but without talking hares and disappearing cats.

Who writes these things, and what drugs are they taking?

Oh, wait, that would be Congress, wouldn't it?

Go say congratulations to Nate!